Starred review from January 17, 2022
There’s no mystery about what happens in this beautifully rendered and heartbreaking story from O’Nan (West of Sunset). In the opening pages, teenager Angel Oliviera murders another teen, Birdy Alves. O’Nan explores what led up to the killing and paints an intimate canvas of a small Rhode Island town in 2009. Women, teenage and adult, are the focal points and the narrators: Angel’s observant younger sister, Marie, sets the stage, and Birdy, Angel, and Angel’s mother, Carol, tell the story through a series of flashbacks and internal monologues. Birdy is dating Hector, but she’s in a clandestine relationship with Angel’s boyfriend. Angel frets about her mother’s desperate attempts to find love. Carol wants a better life for her daughters, but senses it’s “beyond her control” (the 2009 setting underscores the economic fragility). Social media serves as the ugly catalyst for the action that slowly, inexorably escalates. O’Nan evokes the feverish excitement of young love (“She only means to kiss him goodbye but they don’t know how to stop”) and the truly destructive force of jealousy. This isn’t a crime novel; it’s a Shakespearean tragedy told in spare, poetic, insightful prose. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Co.
June 1, 2022
"When I was in eighth grade, my sister helped kill another girl." The opening line of O'Nan's (Last Night at the Lobster) latest tells listeners right away that no punches will be pulled. This brief, high-tension audio follows the lives of four women as they ebb and flow around a catastrophic act of violence. Teenagers Birdy and Angel both love Myles, who's been with Angel for years. Birdy is thrilled when she and Myles begin a secret relationship; Angel is enraged to discover Myles's infidelity and puts most of the blame on Birdy. Angel's mother tries to keep her family afloat as husbands and boyfriends come and go, and Angel's quiet sister sees it all happening but understands very little. Narrator Sara Young does a fantastic job of riding the novel's twists and turns. Her voices are distinct, adding layers of texture when they are in use. However, without vocal changes, listeners may struggle to keep track of the speaker when it comes to interior dialogue, as the writing doesn't always have explicit identifiers. VERDICT Listeners seeking atmosphere and tension will speed through, while those who like closure may be less satisfied.--Natalie Marshall
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